Ohio Breweries by Rick Armon

The Beer Institute released results of a poll Thursday that showed that likely voters this fall are opposed to increasing taxes on beer. Nine out of 10 agreed that “raising taxes on beer will mean working class consumers will have to pay more,” the group said.

The poll surveyed 1,000 likely voters nationwide. One surprising result? Sixty-six percent of regular beer drinkers said they will watch the presidential debates -- and they are more likely to watch those debates than the World Series or an NFL game.

The release of the poll coincided with a Congressional forum about the impact of the beer industry on the U.S. economy. An economic analysis shows that brewing and importing accounted for $223.8 billion in the economic output of the United States – with employees earning nearly $71.2 billion wages and benefits, and generating more than $44 billion taxes, the group said.

In 2010, the last year tax statistics were available, 45 percent of what every beer drinker paid for a beer went to taxes of some kind. “That makes taxes the most expensive ingredient in your beer,” Beer Institute President Joe McClain said in a prepared statement.